About

I’m an Assistant Professor in the Department of Knowledge Integration (KI) at the University of Waterloo, and am cross-appointed to Sociology & Legal Studies, the School of Environment, Resources, & Sustainability, and Geography and Environmental Management. I’m also an Affiliated Researcher at the Waterloo Institute for Complexity and Innovation, a Policy Fellow at the Balsillie School of International Affairs, and a board member for the University of Waterloo Survey Research Center. I’m the Communications Officer for the Canadian Sociological Association, and Co-organizer / Co-liason for the Social Networks Resarch Cluster and the Sociology of Science, Technology, and Knowledge Research Cluster.

I primarily work in the areas of social network analysis and computational social science, with substantive interests in science, education, environmental sociology, and political sociology and social movements. On the teaching side of things, I’m especially passionate about teaching research methods and courses that integrate data science and the social sciences.

My work typically combines established sociological theories and methods (e.g. surveys, interviews) with computational methods (specifically related to network analysis, natural language processing and text analysis, and record linkage) to address debates in social science and public policy. Eventually, I’ll get around to writing up a more detailed description. For now, you can browse some of the articles linked below. My work is currently funded by 8 research grants, including an Early Researcher Award from the Ministry of Research and Innovation in Ontario and 5 grants from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).

In addition to writing articles, I am co-developing research software with student members of my research team. You can learn more about metaknowledge and our other research software on my NetLab website. I recently published an article about metaknowledge (with my former student Reid McIlroy-Young) in Journal of Informetrics. You can read it here.

At the University of Waterloo, I primarily teach courses on research methods and design, computational social science, science and public policy, and the art and science of learning. I also run the Knowledge Integration senior honours project course. I primarily work with graduate students from the Department of Sociology & Legal Studies, but I have also worked with students from various departments in the Faculty of Environment and the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences.